Macro, or 'I want to take pictures of tiny stuff'

yourapocalypse

yourapocalypse

Suspended / Banned
Messages
889
Name
Spike
Edit My Images
Yes
So, a friend of mine has very kindly lent me her Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro lens. Nice of her, eh? Thing is, I've never done any macro photography before and don't have the first clue to start.

Attaching it to my camera yesterday led to a couple of blurry shots of my laptop's escape key and me getting confused over focal lengths. How far do I need to be away from what I'm capturing? What does that little switch next to the focus selector do? Anyone got any other advice? Am I just an idiot? :D
 
Far away enough for it to be able to focus, close enough for it to be a sensible size.
Try using a tripod and you ideally want a shutter speed as fast, if not faster, as your focal length - at least 1/100.
If you can't achieve that shutter speed, ramp up the ISO.

You'll get a fairly low depth of field, so ideally you want about f/6-11.
 
I've just got one of these and was playing last night. See the results here.

My advice... manual focus for the close stuff. My AF was shooting back and forth unable to make it's mind up. The little switch is to adjust the range of the AF, so if you're shooting things further away it doesn't have to hunt so far. I think the closest it can focus is about 30cm.

IMO this is one fantastic lens compared to my others. Razor sharp. If you use it at f2.8 the DoF is tiny though (as I've found out).
 
i think i heard soeone on here say, set the focus as short as possible(in manual), then using your feet move back and forth till the object is in focus
 
Cheers guys, I'm looking forward to having a play with this. What do people advise for lighting? I'm probably going to be playing around with computer bits and pieces, seeing as I've got plenty of them lying around.
 
use the 580, but off camera if possible with a diffuser or tissue paper stuck over the flash.

edit: not got a macro lens yet and never tried one.
 
I've not got an off shoe cord yet, but I've got a stofen, so I'll try that for starters :)
 
that should work, dont forget to post the shots:thumbs:
 
Thanks for the help guys, I'm going to have a play on Sunday I think :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top